China shuts out Al-Jazeera English in Beijing

New York, May 7, 2012--China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs should
immediately grant accreditation to Al-Jazeera English reporters to work in
China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The channel said China
has refused its long-time correspondent Melissa Chan and other colleagues journalist
visas, forcing it to close its Beijing bureau.

Al-Jazeera English had requested visas for various correspondents
"for quite some time," but none were issued, the channel said in a statement
released early Tuesday in Beijing. Accreditation is handled by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs' International Press
Center. "With China not renewing [our]
existing correspondent's accreditations, or allowing a replacement
correspondent," Al-Jazeera English said it has no choice "other than to close
its Beijing bureau."

"We urge China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to immediately grant
Al-Jazeera English correspondents accreditation to report the news in China,"
said Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia program
coordinator. "The refusal to renew Melissa Chan's credentials marks a real deterioration
in China's media environment, and sends a message that international coverage
is unwanted."

Al-Jazeera English did not elaborate on the reasons for China's
decision. Like all foreign news outlets, the channel covered topics censored
domestically by the Chinese Communist Party, including ethnic
unrest and secret
jails. Anonymous hackers have subjected Chan to malware
attacks in the past, another common experience for foreign reporters,
according to CPJ
research. But there was no clear reason for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
to ban the channel's correspondents. Chan, the Al-Jazeera English Beijing-based
correspondent since 2007, told CPJ by email she was not authorized to comment.

"Surveillance and harassment are the norm for reporters on
the China beat, and authorities will often delay visa approval or threaten to
revoke it as part of an overall strategy of intimidation. But effectively
shuttering an international news outlet is a disturbing development," Dietz
said.

Some news outlets do not publicize visa pressure in hopes of
maintaining future access, but CPJ has documented visa problems in the past. Dietz
was himself denied
entry into China before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and his applications for a
journalist visa from New York and Hong Kong were ignored. Some accredited
reporters and unaccredited citizen journalists reporting on Tibet were denied
entry or deported
during the Olympics.

China responded to concerns
about its pre-Olympics media environment with rules
allowing foreign journalists to work anywhere and interview anyone who consents.
But more recently, at times of heightened internal tension, Beijing has invoked
that rule to punish journalists who it said didn't seek prior approval:

Foreign journalists were detained
in 2011 for not seeking permission to report in a Beijing shopping street
pegged as the site of Jasmine Revolution demonstrations--though the protest
never materialized, and permission
appeared impossible to obtain.

Beijing's Public Security
Bureau summoned at least a dozen reporters on Friday for working without
permission in the part of Chaoyang Hospital where blind legal activist Chen
Guangcheng was being treated, according to an email circulated to
members by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China.

At least two reporters had
their press credentials seized,
"hopefully just temporarily," for unauthorized reporting at the same site
on Thursday, according to the Club.

Melissa Chan is listed as the 2011-2012 Secretary of the
Foreign Correspondents' Club of China on the organization's website.